Why Google Custom Search Is A Waste Of Time For Small Businesses.
Google has recently released “Custom Search” which is a new search feature which you can add to your website/blog and is like a custom search feature that you could ordinarily add on your own, only that it has the potential of ruining your small business.
The first step would be to add all of your own website’s pages to the custom search, making it easier for users to search your website. My guess is that if your website is of a relatively small size (let’s say less that 100 pages) then this is something that is not really needed, as the natural page navigation of your site should lead visitors to where they need to go. Google’s custom search then invites you to add pages to the index which you think might be useful to a user’s experience. So, as you’re browsing the internet, you add random pages to your unique search results that will show up in your unique SERPs (Search Engine Page Results) when people use your new custom search. Sounds good? Wrong! Let me use a fictional example to illustrate my point.
Let’s say you have a website selling dog products; kennels, dog food, shampoos, etc. While surfing the net, you have added a few pages into your custom search tool. Now, let’s say a client lands on your website, and does a custom search for a product that you don’t sell, for example a dog collar. The custom search results throw up a series of results - all to pages outside your website – about dog collars. Maybe this is not a site which is your direct competition and maybe it’s a site all about the way dog collars have evolved from leather to chains, or where dog collars are prohibited by law (whatever), but this site happens to have Google AdSense installed on their site, and right alongside the article which you have added about the history of dog collars, there is a link to your direct competition, who DO sell dog collars. So you have not only unwittingly sent your OWN customer directly to your competition but have sent your customer straight out of your own website – with the website in between making some money for the privilege. OK, so the visitor was looking for something you don’t sell on this occasion, but maybe they would have taken advantage of your monthly special of 2 for 1 on doggy biscuits, or signed up for your newsletter. You get the picture.
The only possible reason I can see for installing a Google custom search bar for your small business website is if the site was for a small business, but had a large site, say 200+ pages – but then it would be normal for you to already have this on your site.
I can see the only winner on this one as Google themselves. AdSense is a great tool to have and add to your website or blog to earn some extra cash, but Google themselves also take a large cut, and aside from that are gaining valuable information regarding search patterns for users, which could prove very useful in the future. My advice for your small business website is to stick to natural navigation and let your customers explore your site a little. Maybe they’ll bookmark it for the future – who knows, your competition may unwittingly turn the tables and add you to their own custom search!
